Friday, July 5, 2013

Royal Street and River Road - Sentinels of New Orleans Series

I discovered a wonderful paranormal series called SENTINELS OF NEW ORLEANS by the talented author, Suzanne Johnson. She has published two novels so far with the third due to come out in August.

These are great stand-alone novels. As a series, they are outstanding. They hold the reader's interest from beginning to end.

ROYAL STREET, the first book in the series, takes place immediately before Katrina hits New Orleans and continues in the aftermath. A longtime resident of New Orleans, Ms. Johnson eloquently describes the destruction and the hardships the citizens suffered, even in areas that did not flood. She quotes news stories from the Times-Picayune to begin each chapter. The quotes move the readers through the transition of recovery, again making it real for those of us who were not there. The story is a lively introduction to the series where we meet Drusilla Jaco (DJ), junior wizard. She maneuvers through the story frequently in peril, often confused as she operates without the guidance of her mentor Gerald St. John who has gone missing in the storm's aftermath.

Filled with vivid characters, who are believable, even with their preternatural status, they entertain the reader. You will relate to these beings. Some of them will attract you. Some of them will frighten you. All of them you will remember. It's a great read, filled with fun, spiced with danger from the storm, and the beings that are unleashed.

ROYAL STREET (Sentinels of New Orleans #1)

As the junior wizard sentinel for New Orleans, Drusilla Jaco’s
job involves a lot more potion-mixing and pixie-retrieval than sniffing out
supernatural bad guys like rogue vampires and lethal were-creatures. DJ's boss
and mentor, Gerald St. Simon, is the wizard tasked with protecting the city
from anyone or anything that might slip over from the preternatural beyond.
Then Hurricane Katrina hammers New
Orleans’ fragile levees, unleashing more than just
dangerous flood waters.While
winds howled and Lake Pontchartrain surged,
the borders between the modern city and the Otherworld crumbled. Now, the
undead and the restless are roaming the Big Easy, and a serial killer with ties
to voodoo is murdering the soldiers sent to help the city recover.To make
it worse, Gerry has gone missing, the wizards’ Elders have assigned a
grenade-toting assassin as DJ’s new partner, and undead pirate Jean Lafitte
wants to make her walk his plank. The search for Gerry and for the serial killer
turns personal when DJ learns the hard way that loyalty requires sacrifice,
allies come from the unlikeliest places, and duty mixed with love creates one
bitter roux.

Buy Links for Royal
Street...The ebook for Royal Street is on sale for $2.99 (in all
formats) through August 9.

RIVER ROAD is the second novel in the SENTINELS OF NEW ORLEANS Series. This novel begins three years after the first one. Life has gone on, though DJ is still dealing with the remains of Katrina's damage. It seems the storm opened breaks in between New Orleans and the Beyond. Lots of inhabitants of the latter are still slipping back into the mortal world and wreaking havoc, especially for the wizard sentinel of New Orleans and her partner, Alex Warin. There's the ever present conundrum of the undead Jean Lafitte. What exactly does he want? One thing is certain, an undead pirate is still a pirate and cannot always be trusted.

Into the mix of this wonderful story come mermen, nymphs, and elves. Someone is poisoning the Mississippi, intent on killing humans, as well as any preternaturals who come into contact with the water.

Not only does DJ have this mystery on her hands, but someone is killing wizards. Plus, she is attracted to Jake Warin, Alex's cousin, as well as Alex himself. And did I mention she had a dinner date with Jean Lafitte?

Like its predecessor in the series, RIVER ROAD is an engrossing, entertaining read. It will leave you anxious for the third novel ELYSIAN FIELDS.

Enjoy these terrific books. They make great summertime reads!

RIVER ROAD (Sentinels of New Orleans #2)

River Road by Suzanne Johnson is the fun, fast-paced second book in
the Sentinels of New Orleans, a series of urban fantasy novels filled with
wizards, mermen and pirates. These novels are perfect for readers of paranormal
fiction and “fans of Charlaine Harris and Cat Adams” (Booklist) and RT
Book Reviews agrees that “for readers missing Sookie Stackhouse, this
series may be right up your alley.”
Hurricane Katrina is long gone, but the preternatural storm rages on in New Orleans. New species
from the Beyond moved into Louisiana
after the hurricane destroyed the borders between worlds, and it falls to
wizard sentinel Drusilla Jaco and her partner, Alex Warin, to keep the
preternaturals peaceful and the humans unaware. But a war is brewing between
two clans of Cajun merpeople in Plaquemines Parish, and down in the swamp, DJ
learns, there’s more stirring than angry mermen and the threat of a were-gator.
Wizards
are dying, and someone—or something—from the Beyond is poisoning the waters of
the mighty Mississippi,
threatening the humans who live and work along the river. DJ and Alex must
figure out what unearthly source is contaminating the water and who—or what—is
killing the wizards. Is it a malcontented merman, the naughty nymph, or some
other critter altogether? After all, DJ’s undead suitor, the pirate Jean
Lafitte, knows his way around a body or two.

It’s
anything but smooth sailing on the bayou as the Sentinels of New Orleans urban
fantasy series continues.

i've enjoyed this series and i love it even more after each book so knowing they will be at least a book number 4 and 5 was a fabulous news. And to make you wait until elysian filed there is ( and will be is you haven't read the free edition) the novella jackson square with jean... i can't resist jean lafitte and i want more of him^^... a great bonus to wait until august

About Me

A Native Floridian, I lived most of my life in Texas. After many years working for various government agencies in the state of Texas, I retired. With my upbringing I'm a lifelong Dallas Cowboys fan, and have learned to love the Texas Longhorns, too. Hook 'em!!! My favorite spectator sport is football. Am I a naturalized Texan, or what?!!

After the last six years in my native state of Florida, I still like the Cowboys and the Longhorns. My father passed away at the end of 2015. Now I'm taking time to work through the stress and pain of his death. My poor little Shih Tzus both lost weight over the last few months. Now I'm focused on them, feeding them very well, giving them extra love and attention. We went through everything together.

I was adamant about returning to Texas when I first moved here. But after looking at the realities I'm reconsidering such a move. I may well stay in Florida.

No matter where I am, I will continue with the blog and writing my novels. I'm about 1/4 of the way through my fourth novel. But because it's healing time for me, too, I'm not rushing to finish this one. I'm taking time to breathe and watch the birds around our lake.